


Lifeline

by Geektaire



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, One Shot, Season 8B
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 23:31:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13557897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geektaire/pseuds/Geektaire
Summary: The world they lived in was a cruel one, that's for sure. But Daryl had been thrown a lifeline and he was not going to let it slip through his fingers.Inspired by the Season 8B trailer.





	Lifeline

**Lifeline**

 

 

Judith was a lifesaver in the middle of an ocean of shit threatening to drown him.  

 

If Daryl was true to himself, the only reason he was staying put and not going out of his way to hunt down every single walker from what remained of Alexandria to the Sanctuary was because Judith had latched onto him and wasn’t letting go. 

 

As soon as they had gotten back into the sewers, Judith had decided she was going to be held by him and him alone. It was as though she knew Daryl needed her to be able to withstand the pain losing her big brother would bring them. 

 

As though she knew his heart was breaking over losing yet another kid under his care. It was like Judith could feel his despair over her own brother’s imminent death. 

 

So, when Rick ordered him to lead Alexandria’s survivors to the Hilltop, he had jumped at the opportunity of avoiding watching Carl die. And as he tried to pass the little girl to her father, Judith had clung to his neck and refused to part from him. 

 

“Are you tired, little ass kicker?” Daryl asked softly of Judith just as the Hilltop wall appeared before them. They had been walking for what felt like days, his arms heavy with the height of the toddler he had been carrying for hours. But whenever someone offered to take her from him, Daryl blatantly refused. Judith was his lifeline, and he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t burst into tears the moment she did.  

Between knowing they were close to losing Carl, and not knowing how Carol had fared … he just couldn’t give up the small piece of heaven he had in his arms. Some people might call him a selfish jerk, but he really didn’t give a damn. 

 

The feeling of Judith’s little hand patting his unruly beard made him muster a small smile. 

 

“Do you like the dead hamster your uncle Daryl likes to call a beard, Judy?” Tara asked teasingly as she caught up to the pair, trying to make eye contact with the little girl. “If you’re not careful it might try to eat your hand!” 

 

Daryl’s smile grew a little more as Judith squirmed giggling as Tara tickled her. Little AssKicker was a Godsend, and as much as he didn’t like her parents, he couldn’t help but send a small thanks to wherever Lori and Shane were. 

 

Judith was the best thing to have happened to them since the world had gone to shit. The way she could just make Daryl’s bruised heart beat again with a simple wide smile, or make his day better just by asking him to pick her up … there was only one other woman in his life ever who had this type of power over him, and he was really trying not to freak out thinking about where exactly Carol was. 

 

Judith blowing raspberries against his neck brought him out of his inner musings faster than anything else in the world. 

 

“Are you sure you don’t want us to take her?” Tara asked again, making a motion to try and take Judith from his arms making her squirm away from her. 

 

“No.” 

 

They had left Rick and Michonne behind as soon as the first rays of light had brightened up the sky, it was not much closer to sunset and he had not allowed anyone else to carry Judith other than him. She had been entrusted to his care, and he would die before letting her go if they were not yet in a safe enclosed space. 

 

Daryl was not going to lose another child in his care. His heart had been broken once when Sophia had walked out of Hershel’s barn; the second time had been when Beth had fucked up and gotten herself killed … there was not going to be a third time. He would rather lay down his life before he let anything harm little AssKicker. 

 

The Hilltop doors loomed above them, as the tired group of survivors shuffled closer to them, waiting to be let in. Judith just hugged herself closer to him, her little arms wrapping around his neck as she hid her face against it. 

 

It wasn’t until Daryl saw Carol running towards them he realized the other reason why he had been clinging so much to the little girl in his arms. 

 

The relief pouring from him was probably visible to everybody as Carol ran straight to his arms, hugging both of him and Judith close as soon as she was able to. 

 

To Daryl, Carol smelled like home.  For Carol, Daryl was home. 

 

“Are you alright?” Daryl grumbled as Carol moved back to look at him, his arm which wasn’t supporting Judith around Carol’s waist. “Heard what happened with the knights of the kingdom.”

 

“I’m alright,” Carol whispered as she looked at Daryl with wonder, tears making her eyes look even bluer than the sky. “I was able to get almost everyone out, you?”

 

“Alexandria is gone.”

 

“Fuck,” Carol whispered as she lagged against Daryl’s arm, feeling how he moved it to wrap it around her shoulders helping her stay upright. “Is everyone …”

 

Daryl was unable to say anything, feeling as tears threatened to overcome him. He had already lied to her face once, and he knew he was never going to be able to do it again. But to tell her about Carl’s bite? Would he be able to muster the courage to break her heart with the news?

 

“Everyone made it out alive,” Rosita broke the uncomfortable silence which had befallen the group. “But …”

 

“Carl got bit.”

 

The utter heartbreak on Carol’s face at those words made the tears Daryl had been trying so hard to keep at bay cascade down his cheeks as he pulled Carol into his arms. He didn’t know where she began and he ended, nor did he know who was crying the hardest. 

 

But they were together. He had his girls in his arms and he was never going to allow anyone to take them from him again. Negan had wanted to fight? He was going to get his fight. 

 

Negan had no idea of what was coming for him. Today they would mourn the fallen, those whose lives had ended too soon because of the fucked up world they lived in. 

 

They would remember Sophia, Lori, Merle, Andrea, Hershel, and everyone else they had all lost; they would mourn them again, as they would mourn Carl. But tomorrow? Tomorrow they would fight. Fight for a world where his two girls would have peace … and with them in his arms he promised, he would live to see them find happiness again. 

 

Negan had no idea what was coming for him. He would regret the moment he chose to try to belittle them … he would fight, for he had his lifeline in his arms.  

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
